Hold a magnet to it , then to a steel spanner, some stainless is anty magnetic and some with various degrees of magnetism .
Misc: Everything Else Early (B?) vs. late (C?) kickstart levers
- Thread starter GBewley
- Start date
Martensitic is mildly magnetic but nowhere near like steel.
With stainless it depends upon whether there is an austenitic layer, or so I was told. If there is then it will be non magnetic. Some stainless steels can be magnetic.
As previously said, only the very early dog leg kickstart were stainless, probably the first 150 approx. The factory then appears to have kept the shape but changed the material as there are dog leg kickstarts that were chrome plated. The bike I'm restoring at the moment has one and it needed rechroming because the old chrome was peeling away due to rust.
Simon, I might have to question that statement.
The Touring Rap in the picture is /21XX. I had the k/s rechromed and when I went to fit it the chrome came off in large sheets. I sent it back telling them my fault as I had not mentioned it was likely SS, which requires different strikes before the chrome. They confirmed it was SS and redid it (no charge, which was more than fair) We know the Original Owner rode that to Uni in the late late 40's/ early 50's and then moved to a pretty remote small town. It was crashed about 1961 and stored in this same remote town until his passing about 9-10 years ago when the grandson acquired it. I can see no evidence that it somehow got fitted with an earlier k/s anywhere in its life, but I have been known to be wrong before!
